Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

THE PINK PANTHER is a crime comedy, which is very entertaining, despite an average story and unconvincing plots.As a child in Lugash, Princess Dala receives a gift from her father, the Maharajah: the "Pink Panther," the largest diamond in the world. This huge pink gem has an unusual flaw: looking deeply into the stone, one perceives a tiny discoloration resembling a leaping panther. 20 years later, Dala lives in exile in the circles of high society. A precious diamond is still in her ownership. She goes on holiday at an exclusive ski resort in Cortina d'Ampezzo. A charming and distrustful English playboy tries to get close to the princess. There is also his nephew. Both men lead secret lives. Soon, French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau with his unfaithful wife comes to a snowy trail. That „Pink Panther" has a strange power ...This film promises great entertainment at its beginning, but later, almost everything becomes part of a forced humor. Some scenes are really funny, but that humor is mostly annoying. Some sequences are too predictable. The methods of individual protagonists are absurd. However, this should be a hilarious attack of an inadequate humor. Even the scenery could be better.Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a tragically clumsy. He is aware of his inability at times, but still trying to be cunning and diligent detective. He is infatuated with a mysterious jewel thief, though, his weakest point is his wife. Mr. Sellers was offered a good performance.David Niven as Sir Charles Lytton is a mysterious thief and romantic clumsy at the same time. It seems that Mr. Niven is a bit tired for this role. Capucine (Simone Clouseau) and Claudia Cardinale (Princess Dala) are beautiful, but they are not focused enough. Their roles have become meaningless in the end. Yet, Mr. and Mrs. Clouseau have a few good sequences together. Robert Wagner (George Lytton) as a hot blood that will agitate passions is a redundant character.This is an arrogant farce, which is very watchable, despite so many obvious flaws.

I hadn't seen any of the other Pink Panther movies before this one. My understanding was that they were goofy slapstick comedies staring Peter Sellers, who I knew from Dr Strangelove, which is one of my all time favorite movies. However, this movie was more of a romantic comedy with some slapstick and situational gags thrown in. Most of the jokes didn't really land well for me. I felt like I had seen these jokes done much better many times before in movies that have come out since The Pink Panther. Probably the only two gags I got a kick out of were the men hiding in the room and the gorilla mirror. However, like I said before, I've seen these jokes done more effectively in other movies. Apart from the comedic aspects of the movie, I didn't really find the story, characters or dialogue all that compelling or interesting. Combine that with a lack of many laugh out loud moments and I would have to say I found this movie disappointing. On the other hand, the biggest positive to come from this movie would have to be the iconic theme song. Anyway, I wouldn't say that this is a bad movie, it just isn't that good, in my opinion. 5/10Recommended for those that enjoy cartoon intros, clumsy french policemen, suave womanizing cat burglars, manipulative female seductresses, breaking things, spilling things, tripping over things, falling off of things, unreliable door handles, high speed costumed pursuits......but that's just like, my opinion, man# Of Times Watched: Once

Blake Edwards' THE PINK PANTHER, which launches Peter Sellers' beloved character Inspector Jacques Clouseau onto the celluloid, is originally deemed a star vehicle for David Niven's Sir Charles Lytton, whose secret identity is a roué jewelry thief, aka, "The Phantom". Mr. Niven oozes an innate luster of urbanity tinged with bashfulness and innocuousness which is disarming and photogenic, women shall be enamored with him, and men would love to be him because his philandering mischief will hurt no one. Indeed, the script insouciantly glosses over its criminal technicalities in favoring of a goofy comedy upstaged by Mr. Sellers' comic tics, Inspector Clouseau is a bungling caricature, unwittingly two-timed by his wife Simone (Capucine), and conscientious to catch The Phantom before he lay claims to the titular diamond in possession of an Indian princess Dala (Cardinale, whisked to Hollywood in a race-insensitive role trading on her gorgeousness and she is quite a delight in capturing a whiff of tipsy feline bewitchment). Dawdling from a picturesque ski resort in Cortina d'Ampezzo to Princess Dala's imperial villa in Rome, where a masquerade is followed by a pyrotechnic commotion, the film is conspicuously light in its action (the only set piece is a midnight four-vehicle caper witnessed by an aloof old man in the square), but predominantly elicits laughter from its cartoony context, the most delectable one actually takes place in a bedroom which involves Simone painstakingly trying to hide two men from her husband, who feels frisky to assume their nightly amusement. Peter Sellers makes great play of Jacques' flat-footedness and unassuming persona to a sparking extent, its drollness would be further and maximally exploited in another Edward-Sellers comedy THE PARTY (1968), the mismatch of his unyielding physicality and dead-pan expression is a winning combo. A silk-stocking Capucine also relishes in her duplicitous flip-flopping with mild exasperation mingled with simmering gaiety, but Robert Wagner's George, the prodigal nephew of Charles, comes across as a drag vaunting his shallow good-looking and brazen chivalry. Also, singer Fran Jeffries contributes a swooning MEGLIO STASERA (IT HAD BETTER BE TONIGHT) which is forever inscribed in one's cortex along with its ear-worm theme ditty, both penned by Henry Mancini.In toto, it is a comforting experience to see Blake Edawrds' THE PINK PATHER still holds its allure amazingly with its exquisite patina of sophistication and humor, unadulterated by vulgarity and snobbery - the pathology prevalent in modern-day studio comedy wheeled out from Hollywood, a blessing from the past.

The Pink Panther (1963): Dir: Blake Edwards / Cast: Peter Sellers, David Nevin, Robert Wagner, Claudia Cardinale, Capucine: Hilarious detective story about the unordinary as Inspector Clouseau is summoned to catch a jewel thief known as the Phantom who will target the famous Pink Panther diamond. Director Blake Edwards is a genius with slapstick pratfalls and the sight jokes are on target. This is quite a different comedy from his masterful work in Breakfast at Tiffany's. Peter Sellers plays Clouseau as someone so sure of what is so wrong but one wonders whether justice was served in the conclusion. His wife is involved with the Phantom, which plays just out of plain view. David Niven plays the Phantom who sadistically dazzles the Princess and outsmarts common sense. Claudia Cardinale plays Princess Dala who may or may not be what she seems. Robert Wagner steals scenes as Nevin's nephew that realizing that his uncle is the Phantom. Of course, he too sets his sights on the jewel as well. Capucine plays Clouseau's wife who is having an affair practically in front of him much to his unawareness to it all. Fine slapstick viewing marred by a rather corrupt conclusion but that will not hinder the humour. The winter setting provide great visual appeal and the art direction is superb. It is a pointless romp that would be known for an animated character. Score: 7 / 10